Conventionally, extruded or stuffed food products such as, but not limited to, meats such as hot dogs, links, or sausages, can be processed so that the desired food material is mixed and prepared, then propelled through a “stuffer machine” that includes a stuffing nozzle, extrusion machine, or co-extrusion machine. In operation, as the food moves through the stuffing nozzle or extrusion head, a natural or synthetic casing is disposed about and/or deposited or wrapped around the external surface of the food material to form a continuous length of encased elongated food product. To form certain products (such as hotdogs and sausages), the casing can be one or more of twisted, tied, and crimped at certain intervals forming a chain-like string or strand of encased food product. Extruders and co-extruders are available from various commercial manufacturers including, but not limited to Townsend Engineering Co., located in Des Moines, Iowa. Stuffers are available from various commercial manufacturers including, but not limited to HITEC Food Equipment, Inc., located in Elk Grove Village, Ill., Townsend Engineering Co., located in Des Moines, Iowa, and Handtmann, Inc., located in Buffalo Grove, Ill. Exemplary stuffer and/or linker apparatus are also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,788,563; 5,480,346; 5,049,108; and 4,766,645. The contents of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein.
After stuffing or extruding, the encased elongated food product is expelled from the stuffer or extruder via a material discharging exit port. FIG. 1A illustrates a conventional stuffer 10 and stuffer material discharge port 10p. The stuffer discharge port 10p is positioned proximate an “inker” or looping and transferring device 15 (FIG. 1B) that rotates an endless chain of hooks 15h about the discharge port 10p. Generally described, the material discharge port 10p is configured, so that during operation, the product is expelled and directed so that the traveling hooks each serially travel to be adjacent the discharge port 10p to catch a portion of the length of the product to thereby loop the product onto the hooks at certain intervals. Certain devices place the hooks below the discharge port 10p and the discharge port discharges into a downwardly inclined channel that directs the elongated food downward and, as the hooks turn to face the discharged food, the hooks sequentially individually reach out to grasp the product at certain intervals. Other devices propel the encased product onto hooks that rotate thereabout (typically under) to catch the product at certain intervals to transfer the encased material onto the transfer device. The hooks 15h then suspend the product in a looped configuration (hanging in a vertical orientation) as shown in FIG. 1B.
FIG. 1C illustrates a slightly different prior art stuffer 10 and associated linker 15 with hooks that are oriented to rotate in a different plane from that shown in FIG. 1A (i.e., a vertical plane rather than a horizontal plane). In addition, in this prior art stuffer/linker, the discharge port 10p terminates into a short expanse of tubing that forms a rotating discharge nozzle 10r. The rotating nozzle 10r, again, propels the extruded encased product onto the hooks 15h. After the product is suspended on the hooks 15h, a rod is typically manually inserted through the suspended looped product above the hooks and below the upper looped portion of the food, and the product is manually lifted up and off the hooks 15h and transferred to a trolley, oven, or other food processing station. Unfortunately, the propelling motion and/or the looping hooks may be arranged such that the product is not controllably released from the discharge port, thereby providing inconsistent or non-uniform lengths of suspended product and/or discharged segments that may miss their intended hook entirely. This may be particularly problematic for non-segmented strands (non-twisted or non-chain type of product).
In view of the foregoing, there is a need to provide food transfer means that can more controllably transfer looped strands of elongated items in an automated manner and or provide improved food transfer means that can wrap or loop elongated items.